


we're part of something way bigger

by starkslovemail



Series: iron husbands week 2019 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: And He's Not Waiting for the Avatar to Save Him, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, IronHusbands Week 2019, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is the Dragon Prince
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 19:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20569727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkslovemail/pseuds/starkslovemail
Summary: The Avatar cycle was a cosmic failure, and the world was on fire.





	we're part of something way bigger

**Author's Note:**

> rhodeytony week day 1: beginnings & endings
> 
> title taken from bigger by beyoncé

Tony wished he was still in denial.

He wished that he still thought Howard hung the stars and could do no wrong, he wished that he was filled with nothing but pride when he heard old war stories of the Fire Nation’s triumphs and dominations.

Tony _didn’t_ wish for a blissful ignorance because he knew it wasn’t possible.

From the moment he’d been capable of conscious thought, Tony had seen the signs. He’d seen his mother flinch when Howard got too close, seen the watery smiles she’d give him as she promised him that _everything is all right, Anthony, go back to bed._ He’d heard General Rhodes whisper secrets with Jarvis when he’d go on playdates with Rhodey, heard how the cautionary whispers turned harsh and frantic as they would argue when Tony and Rhodey were getting older and taking part in spars because _they’re too soft, they won’t be able to pretend once they realize._

So, no, Tony couldn’t wish for ignorance, but he _could_ wish to still be in denial.

Despite his wishes though, Tony knew he was way past that.

His innocence was gone, and his denial had barely been hanging on by a thread as it was. Tony had seen the slaughter they’d tried to hide from his sight on the trips to the colonies, he’d snuck out of the palace and met the people beyond the military elite and blue blood socialites, their poverty and starvation a stark contrast to the stories he’d been fed. 

Tony knew the truth: The Fire Nation was corrupt, and it had been corrupt for centuries. Before the war had even started, they’d been biding their time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike: Stark’s Comet with a fully realized Fire Nation Avatar.

And even when Avatar Yinsen had turned against his people at the last moment (_a disgrace_, Howard spat), they’d still managed to do it.

And as the Fire Nation captured more territories and burned more towns, Tony could only watch while his chest ached for the people he could never help. And how could he? The Avatar was supposed to bring balance to the world, and the Avatar was _gone_. Avatar Yinsen had been killed by his grandfather, and then, to make sure no one could stand in his way, his grandfather had razed the air nomads to the ground.

The Avatar cycle was a cosmic failure, and the world was on fire.

And Tony was on fire.

It burned within him, starting with his chest and blossoming outward like a phoenix rising from the ashes that were his very being. It was hot, hotter than anything Tony had ever felt before. A blaze that was all too different from what his mother had taught him, not a warm bonfire that felt like family and love and safety, but a fire so hot it was _cold,_ something icy and isolated and _dead_. 

_Dead just like his mother and Jarvis_. 

And Tony was stranded in the cold, unforgiving flames. He wanted to let it swallow him whole, fall into a scorching wasteland and never turn back.

That would be easier, right? Give in and go away.

_Tony, my boy, if only you had just stayed quiet. It wouldn’t have had to come to this_.

Flames of the utmost betrayal.

It was funny how he still felt betrayed when it happened. He knew Howard was a monster, he’d always known, but somehow, Tony had never expected for the man to _burn him_.

When the Agni Kai had started and Tony had seen Howard before him instead of the grunt he’d told off in the war room, Tony had expected to be hurt in the name of a teachable moment. He expected the flames to lick his skin, expected to be punched and kicked and made a fool out of in front of the court. That’s what usually happened when Tony was too bold for Howard’s liking. 

But, no, an Agni Kai was a trial by fire, and so Tony had to _burn_.

One strike, one continuous flame.

And Tony _screamed._

Ironically enough, it was the scream that had gotten him banished. 

_If only you had just stayed quiet._

And so there he was, a banished prince with a second degree burn bigger than his fist sitting in the center of his chest. 

The only reason that it was a blistering red instead of a charring black was because Tony wasn’t supposed to scream. He was supposed to still be useful to Howard after this round of public humiliation. If Howard had known that Tony was going to scream and cry and _beg_ him to stop, Tony would have been _nothing_ _but ash, when I was done with you. I can promise you that, you worthless little shit._

He’d started packing the second he could move again. 

Howard wanted him out by sunrise, and the moon was already in the night sky. Tony didn’t want to see what would happen if he didn’t make that deadline.

He didn’t have much to take with him, just an alternate set of clothes, a map of the elemental nations, and the few things his mother and Jarvis had left behind before they had disappeared a few years earlier. 

He pulled the small bundle out from under his bed and unwrapped it, smiling sadly at the small plush dragon sitting on top. It wasn’t his, not really. Tony used to have a dragon of his own, but Sunset had “accidentally” burned it while they were playing. Howard had told him to get over it because _you’re too old for such childish nonsense, Anthony. It’s time for you to be a man._

Tony had been eight.

And then all of Tony’s toys had been taken away because Howard never did anything halfway. 

Jarvis had secretly gotten him this dragon and kept it hidden in his quarters. Tony didn’t even know where the older man had kept it, but whenever Howard’s lectures turned violent or Sunset’s taunts cut too deep, Jarvis would swoop in with the dragon and wipe his tears away. 

Tony would hug it to his chest while Jarvis held him close, whispering stories of a dragon prince with iridescent flames until he smiled again.

“Tones?” The door to his room opened, and Tony couldn’t help the violent flinch at the interruption. He turned to see Rhodey slipping into the room quietly, and his heartbeat stopped its dangerous ascent. When Rhodey saw him sitting at the foot of his bed, toy dragon in hand, his eyes filled with concern, “How’re you doing?” 

“Never better, Rhodeybear,” Tony smiled teasingly, forcing the cheerful tone out. Everyone and their platypus bear knew that was a lie, but Tony would ride that lie until the bitter end. If he wanted to sit in the dark and pretend things were okay when they weren’t, he was going to do just that. “Just wallowing in self-pity.”

Rhodey settled down next to him and put an arm over his shoulder, drawing him in close, “That doesn’t sound very healthy.” 

Tony snorted, “Yeah, because I’m the pinnacle of health with this gaping hole in my chest.” 

Rhodey’s eyes flickered down to his bandages, sadness washing over him briefly before a wave of fiery anger took hold, “I still can’t believe he did this to you.”

Tony huffed out a sigh, stroking the soft toy in his hands nervously, “But he did.” He blinked back the tears he felt coming forward at the thought of leaving Rhodey, his best friend, his _soulmate_. The yin to his yang, the only person left in his life that made it worth living. He swallowed thickly, turning to look at the older teen with a watery smile on his face, “I’m really gonna miss you, Rhodey.” 

Rhodey raised a brow, “I don’t know why you’d miss me when I’m coming with you.” 

And it was only then that Tony saw the pack Rhodey had brought in with him. His eyes widened, and he looked up at his friend, shocked, “Rhodey—”

“Don’t tell me not to, I already made up my mind,” Rhodey fixed him with a hard stare, emotion burning into him. “I’m not going to sit here and let them kick you out. I’m not going to abandon you, leave you stranded like some heartless monster.” 

Those words alone filled Tony with warmth unlike any other. He would have loved to surrender to the warmth and let Rhodey make everything better, but he knew he couldn’t. “Rhodey, you’re the son of a _general_, you can’t just up and leave,” he protested. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.” 

“Says the _crown prince_,” Rhodey gave him a purposeful look. 

“I’m not the crown prince anymore,” Tony shook his head. Fifteen, and he’d already failed his people. “And Fire Nation _needs_ you, you’re one of the last good people in the capital.”

“Maybe,” Rhodey shrugged, “but they don’t _deserve_ me, and they sure as hell don’t deserve you.” He looked to the windows, eyes going distant, “Outside the capital? That’s where we should be, helping people.” He looked back to Tony, his gaze holding no room for argument, “And that’s where we’re going to be, _together.” _

Tony could see the fire behind Rhodey’s eyes, but they were a warm bonfire, like family and love and safety. He nodded, “Together.”

Rhodey smiled, sad but determined and bright like the sun. He gave Tony’s curls a gentle kiss, their shadows overlapping in the moonlight, before nodding to the bundle in his lap, “This is the stuff your mom left you?” 

“And Jarvis,” Tony nodded. He let out a heavy sigh, “I haven’t looked through it in a few years.” He set aside the dragon and gave his attention to the rest of the bundle. There was an ornate map, a letter from both Jarvis and his mother, some of the ancient Fire Nation pendants and hairpins Tony remembered his mother wearing, an ornate metal sun Jarvis used to light up with flames to entertain Tony as a child, and a glass dragon egg that seemed to burn with its own inner fire, pulsing with a life of its own as its iridescence shimmered in the moonlight. 

Rhodey took the map, and Tony set the egg in his lap before brushing his fingers over his mother’s jewelry, an ache in his heart when he saw his favorite piece: a simple metal sun that reacted to the inner fire of the wearer, shining brightly whenever they bended. His mother’s flames had shimmered with pure iridescence whenever she wore it, just like the dragons in all the stories she and Jarvis told him.

When he was younger, Tony used to dream he was the dragon prince, and his iridescent flames would never burn, only give life. With a sad smile, Tony turned the sun over in his hands, fingers tracing the edges slowly. Sighing, he put the pendant around his neck, and the sun settled on top of his bandages, perfectly lining up with his blistering. 

He scoffed, at least Howard didn’t scar him asymmetrically.

“Uh, Tones? … This isn’t a normal map,” Rhodey’s voice brought Tony out of his thoughts. He turned to see Rhodey run a flame through the map. Instead of burning the weathered fabric, it lit the map up in a golden script that traced a path through the elemental nations. “I was just trying to see if I could read it better, but my hand slipped,” he muttered. Rhodey looked up, curiosity burning in his gaze as he kept his voice carefully level, “What do you think it leads to?”

“No clue,” Tony narrowed his eyes curiously, head tilting to the side. Rhodey held out the map, and Tony put his hand underneath. He took a deep, steadying breath before releasing flames of his own.

Rhodey dropped the map, eyes going wide. _“What the hell?”_

Tony’s looked down to see his hands shimmering with iridescent flames. He shook his head, explanation ready, “It’s just the pendant, Rhodey, my mom used to—”

“Not you, the_ egg,”_ Rhodey cut him off. _“It’s on fire.”_

And then Tony realized that he wasn’t the source of the all of the flames. He put his fire out, but the glass egg in his lap was still pulsing with life and vitality, iridescent flames flickering all around it, building even as Tony stopped bending, enveloping him in what felt like a warm hug.

His mind flashed back to the memories he had just been sifting through. “Rhodey… I don’t think this is a replica,” Tony breathed out a whisper.

“There’s no way,” Rhodey’s voice was just as quiet. He shook his head, “There’s _no way_, Tony. There haven’t been dragons in _centuries._ Avatar Yinsen spent years looking for them, and he couldn’t find anything.”

“Maybe they went into hiding because they didn’t want to be weapons.” Tony nodded to the discarded map on the floor in front of them, “I bet that’ll take us to them.”

The map, even though neither of them was touching it with a flame, had been lit up in its entirety, golden script tracing out new locations and highlighting paths they’d never seen before. 

The gold glittered, pulsing in time with the egg.

And after a tense silence, both the egg and the map faded back to their usual appearances, and the only light in the room came from the moon.

Tony stroked the egg, the warmth it radiated calming any anxieties simmering underneath his skin. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He looked to the map, his gaze going distant, “Rhodey, we have to try.”

“And if we find them?” Rhodey prompted him. Tony turned to see him eyeing the egg warily. He looked up, eyes searching for something in Tony’s gaze, “What are we going to do?”

Tony knew what they had to do, and he knew that Rhodey knew as well. Tony met his fiery gaze steadily, “We’ll end the war.”

Rhodey exhaled, giving a determined nod in reply, “We’ll end the war.”

The Avatar cycle was a cosmic failure, and the world was on fire, but Tony and Rhodey would brave the flames. 

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> this was a great start to rhodeytony day! i'm going to try to do different au's for each prompt and stretch my writing muscles c: wish me luck!


End file.
